Stieg Larsson Owns – Dominates the NYT Bestseller Lists

by Peter

It was strange to open to New York Times Book Review yesterday. Opening it on Sunday morning before reading the other sections of New York Times always feels great. To me, this is always a special and magic moment. But this was extra special.

Moving on to the bestseller list for trade fiction, there is more Stieg Larsson. Much more. Number 1 on this list is The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. And number 2 is – I am sure you can guess it? – The Girl Who Played with Fire!

And – almost ubelievable – the number 1 spot on the mass-market fiction bestseller list is The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo as well, and on this list The Girl Who Played with Fire is number 5!

I have been a fan of Stieg Larsson for a long time, and over time I have written more about these books – here and elsewhere – than I care to remember, in order to make other crime fiction readers take a closer look at them. Trying to tell people how different and interesting Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist are. Many other bloggers on the World Wide Web have done the same. Thus, for me to see Stieg Larsson “owning” the bestseller lists in the US like this, feels pretty amazing, as I am sure it felt for many others as well.

It is so sad that Stieg Larsson could not witness this. Even so: Congratulations to Sweden! Congratulations to my fellow bloggers who have promoted him, wherever you are!

PS: Today, on August 16th, two months later, the situation is unchanged. Stieg Larsson still owns the NYT bestseller lists. He seems almost to be glued onto the top spots. For a week or so Daniel Silva, another author I like a lot, took the top spot on the hardcover list with his thriller The Rembrandt Affair, but the week after Larsson was back on top. Quite a performance!